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At the Creativity Project event in Sydney last week, Professor Sandra Jones takes the stage, followed closely by her co-presenter, author, Lincoln P. Jones. Their topic is 'How educators can help and inspire young people and develop their creativity' and they have travelled a journey to find those answers together. Read full article

The inspirational story of a former Microsoft executive's quest to build libraries around the world and share the love of books. What's happened since John Wood left Microsoft to change the world? Just ask six million kids in the poorest regions of Asia and Africa. In 1999, at the age of thirty-five, Wood quit a lucrative career to found the nonprofit Room to Read. Described by the San Francisco Chronicle as "the Andrew Carnegie of the developing world," he strived to bring the lessons of the corporate world to the nonprofit sector-and succeeded spectacularly. Read full article

All government schools in Australia have a responsibility to identify gifted and talented children and provide opportunities to optimise their education. But right now in New South Wales, many public primary school parents are considering whether to apply for their child to attend an Opportunity Class during years 5 and 6. And parents have much more to contemplate than their child’s academic environment ... Parents making a decision with their child about placement in an Opportunity Class may wish to talk about the following: Read full article

Personal Best (PB) goals, often associated with the glittering achievements of sports stars, are now finding their way to the classroom, and they are making a difference in academic achievement. Professor Andrew Martin from the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney has recently released a study investigating the role of personal best goals in the achievement and engagement of students with and without ADHD. Read full article

Do you focus on how smart your children are, or how they are smart? This is a question often asked by Professor Howard Gardner. An Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, Gardner is an expert on education theory and describes himself as a ‘student of creativity’... Professor Nancy Mather from the Department of Special Education, University of Arizona, says they “often feel surrounded by feelings of failure at school, and their life is consumed by the thought that ‘I’m not good enough’”. More emphasis is needed on how a child with a learning disability is smart, she says. Read full article

In Part 2 of this interview Yvette Vignando interviews authors of 'Smart But Scattered' about how parents can work with their children on emotional control, especially once their children are teenagers. Guare and Dawson also discuss strategies for working with your child's school. Read full article

In Part 1 of this interview Yvette Vignando interviews authors of 'Smart But Scattered' about how parents can recognise the need for and help their child develop higher level 'executive' skills such as organisational skills, planning, and time management. Read full article